Good Morning, Islanders Country.
For the first time under Barry Trotz, the Islanders won’t be headed to the post-season. “If we’re in or out it’s not going to matter one way or the other, Trotz said before the loss. “We’re going to play the same way. We’re going to play to the end. That’s that group. They made that commitment.”
This was inevitable for weeks, if not several months after the season unraveled during an 11-game winless streak in November/December. Despite the adversity and harsh playoff odds, the team and fanbase held on to the faintest signs of hopes throughout the year but ultimately lost their grip.
Ironically, the Islanders were eliminated from playoff contention on Easter Sunday, a day that, for many, symbolizes hope and new life. The organization will now have to wait until next season for an opportunity to resurrect this group into a playoff team and Stanley Cup contender.
Coming up, a classy gesture from the Maple Leafs’ organization and an Isles top prospect arrives in the US. Plus, we look back at a memorable OT winner during the 1980 run, and the scariest Easter Bunny you have ever seen.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The Islanders were eliminated from Stanley Cup contention after a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night. Anthony Beauvillier gave the Isles a 1-0 lead at 14:17 of the first period and Josh Bailey was credited with a goal 31 seconds into the second for a 2-1 lead. Pierre Engvall tied the game at 10:49 for Toronto (50-20-6) and William Nylander scored the eventual game-winning goal at 13:20 on the power-play. Jack Campbell made 27 saves. Ilya Sorokin, playing his fourth straight game, made 33 saves for the Islanders (35-31-9). For the Maple Leafs, the win set a new franchise-high in points and wins.
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 The Islanders jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 14:17 of the first period on the power-play. Anthony Beauvillier made a nifty move in the neutral zone, carried the puck in, and would find some space to receive a pass from Kyle Palmieri and beat Jack Campbell far side. For Beau, it was his first point in nine games.
🔻 The Leafs’ top-ranked power-play would give them the lead at 13:20 of the second period. Morgan Reilly tripped at the blue line, almost sending the Isles on a short-handed opportunity, but the puck found its way to John Tavares who fed William Nylander for his 31st goal of the season.
3 REACTIONS
❶ IT SUCKS: "It's disappointing," Ryan Pulock said of missing the playoffs. "Obviously we knew a couple of months ago that we had dug ourselves a hole and we're going to have to fight to the end to try to get ourselves out of it. You know, obviously, coming up short this early sucks and we expect a lot more of this group and it's just frustrating."
❷ PLAY TO THE END: "We've had this discussion as we knew what the odds were, and all that," Barry Trotz said after the game. "So I think we've come to a realization a while ago, but we're just going to continue to play. This group will play to the end."
❸ KEEP WORKING: “You have to show up every night with our best effort and try to win every single game," Ryan Pulock added. "That's the type of group we have, no one's going to quit because we're officially out it's just going to keep fighting. Guys are going to be battling for ice time and playing time and I think it's important for us to keep working on our game."
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders return home on Tuesday night to take on the Florida Panthers at 7:30 p.m. There will be a special tribute to the life of Mike Bossy before the game.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: As Semyon Varlamov remained unavailable with a stomach ailment, Ilya Sorokin started his fourth consecutive game in just six days with Ken Appleby, on emergency recall from the Islanders’ ECHL affiliate in Worcester, backing him up for the second straight game.
◾️ Ross Johnston and Kieffer Bellows were both in the lineup as Oliver Wahlstrom was a healthy scratch. On defense, Sebastian Aho was in for Grant Hutton who caught a stomach bug that is going through the team.
◾️ Auston Matthews was listed as ‘day-to-day before the game because of a "minor injury" and did not play. John Tavares replaced Matthews on a line with left-wing Michael Bunting and right-wing Mitchell Marner.
◾️ GOOD MEMORIES: Sunday night’s game was the Islanders’ first back at Toronto’s Scotia Bank Arena since the playoff bubble in 2020. Starting on August 1st, 2020, the Isles played 16 games over a little over a month in Toronto in front of no fans, winning series against the Florida Panthers, Washinton Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers before the bubble moved to Edmonton.
◾️LOOKS DIFFERENT: “It definitely is different,” said Toronto native Casey Cizikas. “We were talking about that on the ice before morning skate, how different it looks with the seats not covered up. I’m going to have family and friends in the crowd tonight.”
👏🏻 CLASS MOVE: In a gracious gesture, the Toronto Maple Leafs organization played a tribute to Mike Bossy and held a moment of silence before face-off. That stood in contrast to another team this weekend.
As former Islanders VP of Communications Chris Botta and others have noted, this came one day after the New York Rangers somewhat surprisingly did not hold a moment of silence before Saturday’s game versus the Detroit Red Wings.
⚾️ HE HAS ARRIVED: Last week we told you Aatu Räty was likely North America bound soon after his Finnish Liiga season came to an end. Well, on Saturday not only did we get confirmation that he was in the U.S., he was at Citi Field watching the New York Mets take on the Arizona Diamondbacks. It’s TBD whether the Islanders want Räty to simply get acclimated to North America or if there’s a chance he’ll play in one of the final regular-season games for Bridgeport.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Josh Bailey scored for the third time in four games; all three goals were unassisted. He is the first Islander since Shawn Bates to be credited with three consecutive unassisted goals. Bates had an empty-net goal among his trio that were scored in 2003.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On April 17, 1980, the “Saskatchewan Sniper,” Bob Bourne intercepted a pass from Terry O’Reilly and blasted a shot past Gerry Cheevers at 1:24 of OT as the Islanders defeated the Boston Bruins 5-4 to take a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Quarterfinals. The game featured 254 penalty minutes, including 248 in a first period that ended with a bench-clearing brawl. The Isles would go on to win the series in five games en route to their first Stanley Cup.
In this edition, our Assists section is a small collection of the many heartfelt, poignant and personal reflections on Mike Bossy’s life that were written this weekend.
🔗 Mike Bossy was a hockey legend on the ice, and a sweetheart off it by John Feinstein, Washington Post “He leaned forward and put a hand on my knee. “John, you can win 100 Stanley Cups or 10 Pulitzer Prizes, but you’ll never find real joy until you have a family.” Bossy had married his childhood sweetheart, Lucie, when he was 20, and they had two daughters and two grandchildren. I’ve never forgotten those words.”
🔗 ‘The team upstairs just got a hell of a lot better’: Islanders and former rivals recall the ‘gentlemanly’ Mike Bossy" by Kevin Kurz, The Athletic “Robinson recalled a conversation he had one day with former NHL goaltender Pete Peeters at the 1984 Canada Cup. “I (was in the car) with him and we were talking, and he goes, ‘Both my shin bones are bruised just from Bossy’s shot.’ He said it would hurt right through his pads, that’s how heavy his shots were.”
🔗 The unique pleasure of knowing Mike Bossy by Larry Brooks, New York Post “He was one of a kind, the best ever at what he did for a team that arguably was the best ever itself, with its four straight Cups and 19 consecutive playoff-round victories that, it turns out, weren’t enough for Bossy. “To this day I think about what I could have done more to win that fifth one,” he told me when we last spoke. “Absolutely, I do.” I am listening to that recording now. At the end of the conversation, we exchanged some small talk and told each other we’d talk soon. Oh, how I wish. Oh, how I wish I could call Mike today.”
And we leave you with this … there are some scary Easter Bunnies out there, but none will match Zdeno Chara’s Halloween costume one October with the Boston Bruins.
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.
And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.